TRIDENT will be removed by 2020 with a Yes vote, promises the Deputy First Minister, as part of a newly written constitution for Scotland.

Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has promised that nuclear weapons will no longer be based on the Clyde, if Scotland votes Yes

SCOTLAND will be a nuclear-free zone for good if the country votes for independence, Nicola Sturgeon has vowed.

The SNP have vowed that the Trident nuclear defence system would be removed from its Clyde base by 2020.

And the Deputy First Minister will promise to enshrine a ban on nuclear weapons in a written constitution after a Yes vote when she gives a speech at Edinburgh University tomorrow.

Sturgeon said: “Scottish taxpayers have been paying to have one of the largest concentrations of nuclear weapons in Europe on our doorsteps. It’s high time that comes to an end.

“The people of Scotland now have the opportunity to remove Trident before we are hit with a share of the further £100billion in costs for a new generation of weapons of mass destruction on the Clyde.

“The Scottish Government will propose a constitutional prohibition on nuclear weapons being based in Scotland. This way they would never return.”

Sturgeon met supporters including Deacon Blue singer Ricky Ross at the National Convention of Yes Volunteers in Stirling yesterday.

They are committed in their efforts to secure victory in the independence referendum.

And the SNP pledge after a Yes vote is that an interim constitution would propose the removal of nuclear weapons and a permanent one after 2016 would state they can never again be based in Scotland.

Sturgeon said the UK was the only EU country without a written constitution. She added: “Only independence can ensure that this changes for the future.”

Labour’s social justice spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said: “If ridding the world of nuclear weapons was as simple as writing it in a constitution, the world would already be a far safer place but the reality is very different and Nicola Sturgeon knows this.

“By moving nuclear weapons down the coast, Scotland will not be any safer.

“We would lose thousands of jobs and lose the security of NATO.

“It would be better to rid the whole world of nuclear weapons through international negotiations rather than isolate ourselves from the global community.”